SOURCING ALTERNATIVE
LEGAL OPPORTUNITIES
Links to the main opportunities on offer
David Ainscough
Abstract
Provides an overview of the roles to which both law and non students with an interest in a
legal career can apply other than training contracts and pupillages.
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Opportunities inside law firms ................................................................................................................ 2
Law firm non trainee graduate programmes ...................................................................................... 2
Legal support roles .............................................................................................................................. 4
Paralegal .............................................................................................................................................. 5
Opportunities outside law firms ............................................................................................................. 5
Training Contracts (and pupillage) outside law firms in other types of organisations. ...................... 6
Policing ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Opportunities in international law, NGOs and International organisations ........................................... 7
Opportunities in service suppliers to law firms ...................................................................................... 8
Legal product start ups ....................................................................................................................... 8
Legal recruitment ................................................................................................................................ 9
Legal publishing research .................................................................................................................. 10
Litigation Support Firms .................................................................................................................... 10
Legal Design Consultancies ............................................................................................................... 10
Alternative legal careers requiring additional professional qualifications ........................................... 11
Trade Mark Attorney ........................................................................................................................ 11
Patent Attorney ................................................................................................................................ 11
Notaries Public .................................................................................................................................. 11
Legal Executive .................................................................................................................................. 12
Legal careers without professional qualifications ................................................................................ 12
Law Commission ............................................................................................................................... 12
Barristers Clerk .................................................................................................................................. 12
Law Centre administration and management .................................................................................. 12
Introduction
The experience in completing a Cambridge degree provides students with a well
developed set of transferable skills which enhances their prospects of employment.
Add to this the specific knowledge gained from a law degree, or the interest in law
developed by any student, means a career as a solicitor or barrister are two obvious
outcomes. Both law students and non law students who go on to do a subsequent
law conversion course have clear pathways to follow in qualifying. However there are
a number of reasons why seeking alternative opportunities other than qualifying to
practice immediately is valid. Namely,
The route to qualification and the nature of the work as a qualified practitioner
is seen not to play to an individual’s strengths and they wish to pursue alternative
graduate outcomes for their future career.
Whilst still intending to qualify in due course graduates wish to spend some
time experiencing other areas of work as short or long term activities informing their
career choice.
Because sometimes its difficult to engage entirely efficiently with the timelines
set down as part of qualifying as a solicitor or barrister graduates can find they have
time to fill, and wish to do so profitably by enhancing their career profile. This makes
for stronger applications when they subsequently do come to apply.
This guideline seeks to fill a gap that exists in information helping to source the
range of alternative opportunities that typically exist. It cannot be entirely
comprehensive because the nature of transferable skills coupled with an interest in
law opens up a significantly large array of possible opportunities some of which won’t
be listed below. What are identified however are those alternatives which past
experience has shown to be especially attractive and meaningful and which
sometimes can be very difficult to uncover in a single source. They are all outside of
acquiring a training contract or graduate apprenticeship in a firm of solicitors or
pupillage in a set of chambers. Some may require their own path to professional
qualifications be followed but by no means all and usually not as extensively as
qualifying for private practice.
Finally for those looking for other suggestions of developing relevant
experience in a legal context this guideline can be viewed in conjunction with the
guideline “Volunteering for a legal charity” located in the Graduate Digital
Publications resource on Handshake in the “Law” section.
Opportunities inside law firms
Law firm non trainee graduate programmes
As law firms have developed into global corporate businesses in their own
right then a plethora of professional support activities and roles have become
necessary. Some of these are open to graduate applicants and although
some of the leading firms will have schemes which recruit annually many will
simply have the need for “one off hiring” into a specific job description.
Sometimes these roles will be located across any of the firm’s offices and
sometimes they will be in dedicated regionalised legal support centres outside
London in other UK cities such as Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast and
Birmingham. Here for example is Allen & Overy’s in Northern Ireland and the
other magic circle and some silver circle law firms have similar “support hubs”
elsewhere. Activities involved in these roles cover in house management and
process consultancy, operations and project management and legal
engineering. The helpful You Tube video from Alayo Rosa helps detail
activities more deeply and careers stories outlining individual career pathways
in law firms and service suppliers in these roles can be found on the Legal
Technologist website.
In October 2021 six leading law firms combined to form a Consortium and
working together with the University of Law provides a common foundation
course and ongoing workshops and skills events to enhance the experience
of graduates joining their own inhouse legal operations teams. The
Consortium firms are CMS UK, Norton Rose Fulbright, Herbert Smith
Freehills, Linklaters and Slaughter & May. They join the list of other law firms
offering bespoke graduate programmes and opportunities.
Allen & Overy LawTech Graduate Programme
Rotations through various areas in Advanced Delivery &
Solutions (Markets Innovation Group), Project Management,
Legal Tech and Fuse or eDiscovery teams.
Allen & Overy Consulting Programme.
New global practice specialising in regulatory and strategic
consulting services. Work is with clients of all sectors and sizes,
from agile start-ups to global firms, providing them with
innovative, practical and sustainable solutions. Provides
specialist insight into governance, corporate purpose and
culture, regulatory strategy, and risk management
Freshfields Manchester Hub careers
Each year a number of graduates can become Legal Hub
Associates having responsibilities in document automation and
AI, due diligence, document review, regulatory surveys, contract
production, and legal analysis and research
Linklaters Legal Operations Graduate Scheme
Based within one of four core teams developing the business,
namely, Alternative Legal Services, Innovation & Efficiency,
Knowledge & Learning and Pricing.
Slaughter & May
Initially recruiting two graduates. Here’s the announcement of
the Scheme in Legal Cheek.
Norton Rose Fulbright Business Legal and Operations Graduate
Scheme
The work encompasses improving operational efficiency,
developing technology enabled solutions, consulting with clients,
modernising and maintaining the success of the firm and its
business, and commercialising what the firm offers including
identifying and assessing new business opportunities.
Ashurst Advance Pathways Programme
Covers legal operations, legal project management, legal
technology and legal process improvement
Herbert Smith Freehills Global Legal Operations Graduate
Programme.
The scheme see five roles on offer, two in London, two in
Australia and one in Asia. Taking place over 18 months there
will be rotations in Pricing, Legal Automation and Technology,
Project Management and Process Design.
CMS
The scheme offers four roles withing business development and
marketing with four rotations in client management, pitching,
communications and brand and practice and sector marketing.
Here’s the article in Legal Cheek announcing the scheme’s
introduction
MacFarlanes
A graduate scheme focussing on emerging legal technologies
such as AI, document automation, robotics, with a dual focus on
process support and ideas generation. Here’s the article in Legal
Cheek announcing the scheme’s introduction.
Legal support roles
Entry level roles for legal support are open to both law and non law graduates.
The job specification may state that an interest in the legal services
marketplace is required but not a law degree. Often there may be a statement
that the firm does not expect those hoping to acquire a training contract to be
applying for these roles. The roles can cover administration, marketing,
knowledge management, legal technical support, recruiting, and analytical
activities. The best and quickest way to source these opportunities is to
search each law firm’s LinkedIn web pages…a very straightforward exercise
and one which allows those searching quick access to current job postings.
Simply google “law firm name and LinkedIn” and from the company profile
access the jobs tab to begin searching.
Paralegal
The paralegal role focusses on activities with a clearly defined remit within a
law firm allowing individuals to become focussed, specialised and quick at
executing procedures and processes thereby taking the load off associates
and other practitioners. Paralegals also thereby become profitable in their own
right within the law firms they typically work for. Their work will support the
business of the firm or organisation so paralegals will work in a wide range of
legal specialisms from crime, consumer law, personal injury, real estate,
personal finance, corporate work and many more. Paralegals also work in
organisations in the public sector such as government departments, in
industry and charities. A lot of the work revolves around researching,
preparing, drafting and completing the documentation required in a legal
transaction or case or policy. Some legal knowledge/level of qualification is
often required and so roles are often applied for after a course at law school.
This is especially the case if your career goal is to qualify with a law firm
involved in public interest law, civil liberties and human rights work. Invariably
you will have one or more paralegal positions with a law firm in this sector to
acquire the relevant level of skills and experience to progress to a training
contract. To find opportunities go to The National Association of Paralegals
which delivers qualifications and training courses and as a consequence
maintains a register of qualified paralegals and a jobs board.The Institute of
Paralegals also provides careers information and a register for qualified
professionals.
Most law firms or other organisations providing opportunities for paralegals
will post opportunities to their own websites. They may sometimes use an
alternative job title such as contracts manager or case worker or case
administrator so its worth delving into the job description details a little. Check
the websites of firms you’ve identified by either geographical location or work
specialisms. Paralegal roles are actively picked up by job boards such as
Indeed.com and totaljobs.com and its worth registering with both to be alerted
to opportunities meeting your requirements when they are posted.
Paralegal roles within government departments are sourced through the Civil
Service Jobs website using the “Legal Services” categorisation for job role.
Opportunities outside law firms
Training Contracts (and pupillage) outside law firms in other types of organisations.
There are organisations licensed by the SRA other than law firms that are
able to oversee training contracts and qualify trainee lawyers, including in
some instances sponsoring the costs of training and qualification. The best
known of these is the Government Legal Department which annually sponsors
a small number of both solicitors and barristers through their respective
process. Trainees typically join HM Revenue and Customs, the Treasury,
Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General’s Office or other government
departments. The National Crime Agency will sometimes take on trainees and
here is the latest news about the legal trainee scheme.
Equally well known is the Crown Prosecution Service’s Legal Trainee Scheme
for intending criminal solicitors and barristers. Intending solicitors will need to
have completed the SQE (Solicitors Qualifying Exam) parts 1 & 2 and
barristers their BTC (Bar Training Course)
Finding other training contract opportunities outside law firms is notoriously
difficult as firms will review whether or not to sponsor in any given forthcoming
year according to business needs and so their frequency is uncertain. They
are also increasingly favouring the new Apprenticeship approach to qualifying
their “in house lawyers to be”. This makes more sense financially and embeds
the future lawyer more deeply within the organisation via work experience.
However a first starting place is LawCareers.net advanced training contract
search engine using “in house” as your type of practice search criteria.
Secondly there are also one or two organisations who are known to
consistently recruit trainees such as British Telecom. Keep an eye on the job
postings on the Careers Service Handshake platform to know when these
“one off” roles are posted. You can also look at any large firm’s annual
graduate recruiting round to see whether “Legal” is listed as one of the
departments recruiting and apply accordingly.
Local government lawyers, legal officers and trainees are sometimes recruited by
City or County Councils, Metropolitan Boroughs or other local government bodies.
LexisNexis has published an introductory guide to the work they do which usually
concentrates on public procurement, social housing, children in social care,
education and social care more generally. Although it is often difficult to source
opportunities they frequently feature in the career news section of
LocalGovernmentLawyer
The “Big Four” professional services companies (Deloittes, EY, KPMG and
PwC) offer law training contracts and vac schemes for which students can
apply in the usual way. However they also wish to attract those who are
interested in legal careers to roles which do not require a qualification to
practice but for which the transferable skills and interest in legal matters are
seen as a distinct advantage. The first of these is graduate roles in tax advice
which is often characterized by being a combination of knowledge of complex
tax legislation with a familiarity and comfort with numerical analyses. All four
firms have distinct entry routes into tax for which you apply through their
website and which usually open for applications in July of each year. The
Careers Service has full details of their roles advertised on their website within
Handshake but for a general introduction you can read the Prospects website
and the careers material on the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
The firms also offer roles within the Corporate Governance services they
provide to clients. This is a relatively new entry route to the Big Four and in
career terms places graduates, often from a legal background or with an
interest in company law, on the path to becoming a Company Secretary. The
Chartered Governance Institute hosts a jobs board including trainee roles
which covers all major organisations including the Big Four. Deloittes lists
details of their scheme under Legal Entity Management, and KPMG details
the range of services covered by their governance practice.
Policing
Those interested in the law as a career can be attracted to the role of a Police
Officer. A full guide to entry level positions in the UK’s regional police forces
can be found on the Careers Service policing website. Graduates can enter
schemes leading to either roles as “beat officers” working within the
community or as “Detectives” and the period of training typically takes two
years.
Opportunities in international law, NGOs and International
organisations
The organisations active in international legal activities cover a broad
spectrum which includes legal services administered from within the national
government of each country. In the UK this is the Government Legal
Department. It also covers International Criminal Tribunals and Courts,
Intergovernmental organisations such as the UN, NGOs such as JUSTICE
and Amnesty International, and private law firms with public international
practice areas. A possible differentiation of the mission of such a range of
organisations is helpful and includes those which seek to create reciprocity
and liaise over collective action; those which seek to establish and monitor
interdependency in pursuing international action; those which seek to finance
international cooperation; and those which seek to “name and shame” and
prosecute international transgressors through the relevant courts.
Roles within such organisations extends from entry level positions which can
be described as paralegal, intern or research assistant and which require a
familiarity of relevant legal knowledge but perhaps not a full qualification right
through to a fully qualified lawyer in a relevant jurisdiction. Language skills
and post qualified work experience will probably be required in the latter roles.
There is no easy and singularly identifiable way of sourcing relevant
opportunities across such a wide diversity but a systematic review of the
following is a useful investment of time. Each organisation listed will have its
own website or LinkedIn pages detailing current vacancies and often a
classification scheme facilitating keyword searching.
This is a list of Intergovernmental organisations (including UN organisations,
sector specific, regional, law enforcement, humanitarian. Environmental,
energy and cultural organisations – from Wikipedia). To search for legal
opportunities at the United Nations use the relevant keyword search and
classification scheme at the UN Careers website. For those interested in
becoming an international civil servant with the UN there is a Young
Professional Programme website and applications typically open in July.
This is a list of Human Rights NGOs in London (inc. Amnesty, REDRESS,
Human Rights Watch, JUSTICE, REPRIEVE, and the Refugee Council)
International Development NGOs in London (inc .The International Rescue
Committee, UNICEF, ActionAid, and CAFOD)
EU institutions and law firms operating in Brussels plus NGOs and European
Think Tanks are listed on EuroBrussels
Entry programmes to the EU as a lawyer are highlighted on its Law website
whilst those looking to apply to paid traineeships within the EU can access the
EPSO website (ie the European Personnel Selection Office). Opportunities
exist in the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, Court of
Justice, and the office of the European Ombudsman.
Navigating an approach, application and successful assessment by any of the
above organisations can be a highly complex and specific process. Don’t
forget to research the Cambridge alumni who have been or are currently
employed by any of these organisations using LinkedIn. Not only will you
perhaps be able to contact them for advice and guidance but by consulting
their career trajectories you’ll identify a fund of suggestions for possible
additional and relevant work experience for yourself.
Private law firms with significant public international law practice areas can be
searched for via the UK rankings guide on Chambers and Partners. They
include:Clifford Chance, Fietta, Volterra Fietta, Debevoise & Plimpton,
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Latham & Watkins,
Skadden Arps, Quinn Emanuel, Three Crowns, Baker Botts, Cooley, Hogan
Lovells, and Wilmer Hale. and their websites or LinkedIn pages can be
searched for relevant six month internships.
Opportunities in service suppliers to law firms
Legal product start ups
As the legal services business becomes ever more competitive and
dependant for its cost advantages on intelligent workflow management on
behalf of clients a plethora of legal start ups have been created. Some of
these are now well known, others less so. Here’s one list of the leading ones
but there are others easy to find. There are a number of websites that cater
for those seeking opportunities to use their interest in law and legal
knowledge in an exciting and fast growing sector. Websites such as Start Up
jobs are worth a visit but use the search filters intelligently for your role and
location preferences and start by using the term “Legal” in the main search
box. Other job sites such as Otta and Talentpool are worth a look.
Legal recruitment
There are several reasons why law firms, the “in house” legal departments of
major corporates or public and private sector organisations can turn to a
specialist external recruitment agency in order to help them hire lawyers. For
example:
confidentiality. Organisations may want to limit the visibility of personnel
changes within their organisation
speed and cost. Its often more effective to outsource recruiting leaving staff
from within the firm to focus on clients and fee earning.
persuasion. A large part of a recruitment agent or consultants role may be in
drawing to the attention an opportunity which otherwise would go unnoticed
by potential applicants.
Because the legal labour market is so extensive it means that there is a
continuing demand for those interested in it to become researchers and
consultants in third part recruiting organisations. And because there is no
barrier to entering such roles it is easy to apply and enter…and equally easy
to move on to other roles when appropriate. Whether you aim to work in a
third party agency which is solely based around executive search (often
known colloquially as “head hunting” or search and select where an agent will
run a visible advertising campaign the two roles you will see advertised
principally are “researcher” and “recruitment consultant”. Here’s a full
description of a generic, non sector specific recruitment consultant’s role. To
listen to a recording of how lawyers use recruitment agents access the video
recording with Ben Quarry who is a legal recruitment consultant and a
Cambridge law graduate.
The usual point of entry for a recent graduate is as a “researcher” within a
recruitment agency. Responsibilities would include initial stage contacting of
candidates, running recruitment campaigns and in the area of executive
search usually the compiling and contacting of initial target lists. There are
many recruitment agencies which may be advertising and hiring graduates
and you will see them frequently on graduate jobs boards. However for a
good initial insight into the range of agencies consult the jobs page at
TheLawyer.com and you’ll see the names of agencies running recruitment
campaigns. For a quick snapshot see Law Absolute, Robert Walters, Michael
Page, and Chadwick Nott.
Legal publishing research
Each year the major publishers of professional legal material update their
website and hardcopy publications. Behind each will be many “researchers”
for whom an understating of legal knowledge and terminology is an
advantage. Research roles can become either become careers in their own
right or short to medium term appointments solely whilst graduates continue
looking for their main career outcomes. Research roles may be advertised on
legal publishers’ websites or an interest can be expressed by writing an
unsolicited application to the editor of the respective publication. Editors’
details are contained within the front pages of the hardcopy publication or on
the respective websites. Working on guides such as directories of leading law
firms by country and practice area provides the benefit of an excellent insight
into the leading firms and practitioners within the profession. Look for example
at:
Chambers and Partners – Vacancies and their jobs advertised on LinkedIn
Legal 500 – Editorial and Research team with contact details and jobs
advertised on their LinkedIn site
Sweet & Maxwell (Thomson Reuters) Vacancies page and LinkedIn site
(search for “Legal”)
Litigation Support Firms
There are some law firms that focus exclusively on supporting other law firms
with managing a process or providing expertise in areas such as disputes,
investigations, fraud and misconduct. Rather than have clients of their own
they help other law firms provide a better set of outcomes for their clients.
They often have a demand for law graduates in Research Analyst positions
that don’t lead to qualification but which offer a short and medium term area of
relevant work experience for those who are delaying the next step in their
qualification process. Demand for analysts (and in some cases summer
analysts) will vary by office location and from year to year. Some of these
firms are well worth reviewing for opportunities eg Kobre & Kim, Saunders,
Oliver Fisher Unfortunately there is no convenient list to finding these roles in
one place but vacancies do often appear on Total Jobs where you can use
search terms such as “dispute resolution” or “litigation support”
Legal Design Consultancies
Legal design consultancies are at the cutting edge of making complex
processes more accessible and therefore efficient and effective to “consumers
of law” (either lawyers and their clients in law firms or members of the public
managing legal affairs for themselves). As well as developing improved
processes such consultancies often design clear accompanying
documentation and materials. A combination of design thinking, legal
expertise and awareness of new technologies is required in the roles on offer.
The objective of the service is to enhance the “user experience”. There is no
easy way to locate these companies but google searching with “legal design
consultancy” does provide adequate leads and often as a company they will
accept unsolicited applications rather than have a list of current jobs being
advertised.
Alternative legal careers requiring additional professional
qualifications
Trade Mark Attorney
The Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys has provided a helpful short
guide explaining the differences in intellectual property between a trade mark,
a protected design, a patent and copyright, all of which can occupy the
substance of a Trade Mark Attorney’s work.. Trade Mark Attorneys help their
clients protect the integrity and identity of their brands whether encapsulated
by logos, shapes, company names, or sounds/music. Both law and non law
graduates can apply to firms which have intellectual property departments and
advertise to take on trainees where you will likely work for two years whilst
being supervised and taking exams. Employers include firms of Trade Mark
Attorneys, large manufacturing companies, and some firms of solicitors. The
Prospects website hosts a list of where to source job vacancies.
Patent Attorney
Because the role of a Patent Attorney is to assess whether inventions are new
and innovative and therefore eligible to be patented a high degree of scientific
or technical knowledge is often a distinct advantage as is a way of thinking
technically about a concept. For this reason its a career outcome pursued by
STEM students and especially those with higher degrees such as a PhD. The
qualification process whilst being supervised by someone who is qualified can
take several years. Patent Attorneys are usually employed by firms in private
practice, large companies or government departments. A list to source job
vacancies can be found on the Prospects website. Intellectual Property
Careers has several useful resources on how to find the right job as well as
employer profiles and a job alert service including internships and insight
days.
Notaries Public
Public Notaries are qualified lawyers and although most are also qualified
solicitors it is possible to complete the vocational stage of qualification after a
law degree from a UK university. The Notaries Society has a careers section
outlining the route to qualification. The role of a public notary is essentially to
authenticate the use of documents abroad including validating signatures
such as deeds, estates, financial transactions, and powers of attorney.
Fluency in languages in addition to English can therefore be very useful and
important to have.
Legal Executive
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives offers a CILEX Professional
Qualification (CPQ) over two years to those have completed a UK law degree
but who do not wish to qualify as a solicitor or barrister via a training contract
or pupillage. Legal Executives are the third branch of the qualified legal
profession and they tend to specialise in their practice area from the start of
the process and also qualify whilst earning on the job, conveyancing and
probate work being typical examples. They can subsequently qualify as a
solicitor, become a judge, work as a sole legal practitioner and act as a
commissioner for oaths. They work within law firms alongside solicitors, within
government or as in-house lawyers in large corporations. CILEX operates a
jobs board for its members and many job opportunities can be found on
national jobs boards such as Indeed, Reed, or Total jobs. Future legal
executives start with law firms as paralegals or legal secretaries and progress
by working and studying over the course of several years. CILEX hosts
regular webinars on becoming a legal executive the first Tuesday of each
month and has a comprehensive FAQ page.
Legal careers without professional qualifications
Law Commission
The Law Commission, a statutory, independent body, runs an annual
recruitment round in January to hire research assistants who are allocated to
help shape legal reform in commercial and common law, criminal law,
property, family and trust law, or public law. Research assistants work
alongside courts of appeal judges, senior barristers and solicitors and leading
academics to revise how current law operates and how its should be
reformed. They are called upon to help draft legislation or make
recommendations to Government. Candidates typically will be aiming for a
first class law degree and/or LLM/PhD and will look towards a career at the
Bar or within academia or government policy after completing one or possibly
two years with the Commission. The nationality requirements for applicants
conform to Civil Service rules.
Barristers Clerk
Barristers Clerks are responsible for managing the practice and business
activities of the barristers within a set of Chambers by providing administrative
and business support. The Institute of Barristers’ Clerks has a jobs board for
entry level positions. Sets of Chambers are located in several major cities as
well as London inc. Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool,
Manchester and Newcastle. A specialist recruitment agency, ABC Chambers
Solutions, handles many entry level roles.
Law Centre administration and management
Law Centres exist to protect the legal interests of the communities in which
they are situated and serve and focus mainly on social welfare law,
immigration, employment, housing, asylum and civil liberties. To find a
complete listing of all those in the UK access The Law Centres Network
website which also carries a jobs board of vacancies. It’s a good idea to
volunteer with a centre before you apply for a permanent role to demonstrate
your own commitment to local communities and its something which helps
develop transferrable skills for a multitude of other graduate roles.
David Ainscough
March 2022
